Nail-extractor.



PATENTED SEPT. 13, 1904.

W. 0. MORRILL. NAIL EXTRAGTOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 23, 1904.

NO MODEL.

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ATTORA/U UNITED STATES Patented September 13, 1904.

PATENT ()FFICE.

NAlL-EXTRACTOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 770,018, dated September 13, 1904,

Application filed May 23, 1904. Serial No. 209,174. (No model.)

- toe located at a minimum distance from the edges of the claws and terminating in a heel located at a maximum distance from the claw edges, this foot also being connected with a claw by means of a slotted gooseneck, the vertical Walls of said slot acting as guides and detents for the tongue of the tool-shank,which is connected to the foot at its gooseneck by means of a pivot-pin. The guides also prevent the claw edges from being sprung laterally, as is the case with nail-extractors when the portions carrying the claws are mounted shear fashion.

It will be obvious by an examination of the drawings and a perusal of the specification and mode of operation that the gooseneck lever-foot is a most essential and important feature of theinvention. The curved sole thereof could be utilized in the ordinary method of mounting the shank and foot shear fashion or of providing the footwith atongue working inside of a slotted shank or of many other ways without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the nail-extractor complete and in normal position. Fig. 2 represents a front elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan of the claws. Fig. I is a transverse section taken on line 05 m of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of the lower portion of the sleeve, taken on line 3 y of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 represents the claw-surfaces in full lines biting the nail preparatory to its being extracted. The dash-and-dot lines represent the position the nail-extractor assumes when the nail shall have been partly extracted.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the drawings, in which a represents the slotted gooseneck, a des' ignating the walls thereof, and f the claw at its forward end. The sides or vertical walls ity therefrom forming the tool-shank extension k, ending in the abutting end a. The handle portion 70 and the extension in are both depressed or channeled on either side longitudinally, as shown by the numerals 12 13. The shank may be made oval or elliptical in cross-section and the hollow of the sleeve 70 made to correspond in shape, as shown in Fig. l of the drawings. In this view the shoulders on the interior of sleeve k at its lower end are indicated by the letters n both of the latter adapted to arrest the stoppin'n of the tool-shank extension 70 when it collides therewith, and thus prevent the shank from being released from within the sleeve is aforesaid. It will be observed that the goose neck is quite high and that its concave face extends above the base of the claw, so that a slot, which may be cut, for instance, by a milling-cutter longitudinally of the lever and merely through the gooseneck portion and which may be parallel, or nearly so, to the fulcrum-surface of the lever, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, will intersect the concave surface of the gooseneck and provide an opening for the shank to pass down through,while the slot permits the lever to turn on its pivot on the shank in the required degree. It will be obvious that the exterior surface of the wall of the sleeve tapers inwardly from the upper portion and is elliptical or oval in form to correspond with the interior surface. The

walls of the sleeve are provided with the transverse aperture 0, through which the stop-pin n is passed when securing it to the shank extension near the abutting end thereof.

It will be obvious that the biting edges ff of the claws are arranged at unequal distances from their respective pivoted bearings a, the object of which will be explained hereinafter.

Mode of operation: To extract the nail, the biting edge f of the forward claw is placed upon the surface of the wood slightly beyond the head of the nail. The ram which forms the handle 9 and sleeve 70 is pushed forward, allowing the biting edge f of the rearward claw to take its place back of the nail-head. Simultaneously with the rearward movement the ram is raised and quickly brought down upon the upper end of the shank located within the sleeve, thus driving one or both claws into the wood, according to the strength of the blow and the softness of the wood. The ramming is continued until the biting edge of the forward claw is under the head of the nail. At this stage of the operation the claw-tongue will have been checked in its forward movement by the rearward wall of the slot. Then a slight backward motion imparted to the ram-handle will force the biting edge f of the rearward claw below the nail-head and bring the two claws with their concave edges to bite on the nail, as shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings. A further backward motion of the tool, as indicated by the dashedand-dotted lines, will partly extract the nail, as shown in Fig. 6, and a complete backward motion will extract the nail.

It will be obvious that by having the biting edge f of the forward claw arranged at a greater distance from the axis of the pivotpin than that of the-biting edge f" of the rearward claw is it will require less ramming to get the, claws in proper position to pull the nail and the nail will be pulled straighter than if they were both equal and that in the ease of a nail having no head the claws will act as a clutch and extract it.

The initial fulcrum of the tool is at the toe e, which is placed as near to the edges of the claws as possible. It will be observed by referring to Fig.6 that this initial fulcrum remains a fulcrum-point from the time that the claws situated below the surface of the wood begin to rise until the edge of the forward claw is on a level with the surface of the wood, as shown in Fig. 1. When this position ofthe claws is reached, the fulcrum, owing to the curve employed, gradually shifts until it reaches the heel, as shown by dotted outlines in Fig. 6, where it remains until the nail is withdrawn. The path of the center of the nail-head is indicated by the dashedand-dotted line 5, which practically coincides with the arc of the circle described when the fulcrum is at the heel, so that the advantages of a short and long lever-arm are combined without having any of the disadvantages of either. Lines 9 10 represent the path of the nail as it is extracted.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A nail-extractor comprising a shank and a terminal claw and a lever pivoted thereto, and terminating at one end in a complemental claw cooperating with the first-mentioned claw, and at the other end having a fulcrumsurface running along one side thereof, said claw and the inner end of said fulcrum-surface united by a high gooseneck portion, the concavity of the gooseneck extending above the base of the claw, so that a slot cut longitudinally of the lever with its inner wall substantially parallel with the fulcrum-surface will intersect the inner part of the concave surface of the gooseneck above the base of the claw and provide a transverse opening through the gooseneck, the shank playing in such slot, and guided laterally thereby and passing through said opening to bring its claw opposite that of the lever and the said gooseneck being perforated transversely for the pivot, and being sufliciently deep to adequately support said pivot against strain.

Signed at New York city, borough of Manhattan, and State of New York, this 21st day of May, A. D. 1904:. I

WILLIAM C. MORRILL. 

